Well, the roller coaster preseason continued into week 1 for my son this past Friday. His team won, but he only got in on one play. This followed up a Thursday practice where he basically got blamed for a very sketchy mistake (won't go into it all). After the game (which they won), he basically lost it right in front of everyone. It was a bad time and place, but I guess all the built-up frustration just came out. It was then that I realized how much I've messed this thing up. Out of concern for him and for his chance to play his senior year, I gave him the impression that his playing time was more important than team goals. I had pretty much allowed him to lose focus on why he was playing the game in the first place.

So, after he and I had a little "Come to Jesus" meeting, he goes and talks to the head coach. No more messing with the assistants, he goes straight to the head man. Well, I wish he had done this at the beginning, even though the coach advised them to go through their position coach first. He got much more direct responses from the head man: Where/when he wasn't giving enough effort, how he could be a better practice player, how he could be more of a team leader, etc. Apparently it was a pretty long heart-to-heart, and the coach said to him, "If you'll give the effort in practice, I'll find a place for you to play."

Mon. at practice, he makes some apologies to the offensive line for being selfish, apologizes to his coaches for his attitude, and starts to make some improvements in how he's playing. I haven't been out there, but he feels a lot better about things, and he feels like he's getting the attention of the coaches now.

We play a team Fri. night that we SHOULD roll over pretty bad, so I'm thinking that he'll get to play. We will see how it works out, and if this new coach will stick to his word.

Well, he at least got to play last night, but it was after we already had a 45-0 lead. I just kept my mouth shut about it because he played well and I didn't want to bring him down with my frustration.

But I know that he's hoping to get some chances in games where we're not up by 6 touchdowns. It was just kind of strange that they subbed every position early other than the offensive line.